Clashes kill 11 on first day of Egypt vote on constitution

Published 6:56 pm, Tuesday, January 14, 2014

A man shows support for Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi near a Giza polling place.

A man shows support for Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi near a Giza polling place.

Photo: Mahmoud Khaled, AFP/Getty Images

Clashes kill 11 on first day of Egypt vote on constitution

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Cairo --

A referendum on a new Constitution laid bare the sharp divisions in Egypt six months after the military removed the elected Islamist president. Pro-army voters lined up Tuesday outside polling stations, singing patriotic songs, kissing images of Egypt's top officer and sharing their upbeat hopes for their troubled nation.

Despite heavy security, 11 people were killed in sporadic violence, with protesters burning tires and pelting police with rocks and firebombs to create just enough danger to keep many voters at home.

The two-day balloting will likely pave the way for a possible presidential run by the nation's top general Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi after he ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last July, setting off a fierce crackdown on Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

It's also a key milestone in a military-backed political road map toward new elections for a president and a parliament after the coup, which has left Egypt sharply divided between Brotherhood supporters in one camp, and the military, security forces in the other, as well as a large segment of a population exacerbated by three years of turmoil.

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Amid a climate of fear and paranoia, authorities, the mostly pro-military media and a significant segment of the population are showing little or no tolerance for dissent. Campaigning for a "no" vote risked arrest by the police and Egyptians who have publicized their opposition to the charter, even just parts of it, are quickly labeled as traitors.

Some 160,000 soldiers and more than 200,000 policemen fanned out across the nation of some 90 million people to protect polling stations and voters against possible attacks by militants loyal to Morsi.

The current government is looking for a bigger "yes" majority and larger turnout to win undisputed legitimacy and perhaps a popular mandate for el-Sissi, to run for president this year. El-Sissi has yet to say outright whether he plans to seek the nation's highest office.

New Constitution

Some of the key changes made to the constitution include:

Civilian government

The Constitution "continues to build a democratic, modern country" with a non-religious and nonmilitary government.

Islamic law

The "principles" of Islamic law, or Shariah, are the basis for legislation, a phrase that has been in all Egyptian constitutions since the 1970s.

The military

The armed forces have the right to name the defense minister over the next two presidential terms, an arrangement that places the military above any civilian oversight for eight years.